Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy
This essay provides a meta-narrative for the philosophical dialogues that took place in colonial India between Scottish missionary philosophers and philosophers of Vedānta on the topic of karma and rebirth. In particular, it offers a reconstruction and analysis of the context and strategy that shape...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/9/198 |
| _version_ | 1831771907655991296 |
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| author | Nalini Bhushan |
| author_facet | Nalini Bhushan |
| author_sort | Nalini Bhushan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay provides a meta-narrative for the philosophical dialogues that took place in colonial India between Scottish missionary philosophers and philosophers of Vedānta on the topic of karma and rebirth. In particular, it offers a reconstruction and analysis of the context and strategy that shaped the content of discussions that were initiated in the pages of the Madras Christian College Magazine in 1909 between Subrahmanya Sastri and AG Hogg and that inspired Radhakrishnan’s response in his dissertation entitled “The Ethics of Vedanta and its Metaphysical Suppositions”. The broad context is provided by a history of missionary presence in India. The context is further circumscribed by the ‘hybrid’ character of the position of the missionaries as teachers in departments of philosophy, teaching students of “upper-caste Hindus” in the English medium universities set up by the British in the late nineteenth century. The hermeneutics of form and context is essential to understanding the content of these debates about the ethics and metaphysics of Christianity and Hinduism, where the meaning and significance of the notion of rebirth took center stage. Importantly, these debates in turn shed light on the broader social and political context in which these debates took place. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:08:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-334e4b9981dd496784b44e2453ff1d9b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:08:00Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-334e4b9981dd496784b44e2453ff1d9b2022-12-21T18:33:06ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442017-09-018919810.3390/rel8090198rel8090198Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian AcademyNalini Bhushan0Philosophy Department, Smith College, Dewey House 204, Northampton, MA 01063, USAThis essay provides a meta-narrative for the philosophical dialogues that took place in colonial India between Scottish missionary philosophers and philosophers of Vedānta on the topic of karma and rebirth. In particular, it offers a reconstruction and analysis of the context and strategy that shaped the content of discussions that were initiated in the pages of the Madras Christian College Magazine in 1909 between Subrahmanya Sastri and AG Hogg and that inspired Radhakrishnan’s response in his dissertation entitled “The Ethics of Vedanta and its Metaphysical Suppositions”. The broad context is provided by a history of missionary presence in India. The context is further circumscribed by the ‘hybrid’ character of the position of the missionaries as teachers in departments of philosophy, teaching students of “upper-caste Hindus” in the English medium universities set up by the British in the late nineteenth century. The hermeneutics of form and context is essential to understanding the content of these debates about the ethics and metaphysics of Christianity and Hinduism, where the meaning and significance of the notion of rebirth took center stage. Importantly, these debates in turn shed light on the broader social and political context in which these debates took place.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/9/198KarmaRebirthRadhakrishnanHoggChristianityHinduismVedānta ethics and metaphysicsScottish missionariesphilosophical and religious debatecolonial India |
| spellingShingle | Nalini Bhushan Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy Religions Karma Rebirth Radhakrishnan Hogg Christianity Hinduism Vedānta ethics and metaphysics Scottish missionaries philosophical and religious debate colonial India |
| title | Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy |
| title_full | Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy |
| title_fullStr | Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy |
| title_short | Hindu Students and Their Missionary Teachers: Debating the Relevance of Rebirth in the Colonial Indian Academy |
| title_sort | hindu students and their missionary teachers debating the relevance of rebirth in the colonial indian academy |
| topic | Karma Rebirth Radhakrishnan Hogg Christianity Hinduism Vedānta ethics and metaphysics Scottish missionaries philosophical and religious debate colonial India |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/9/198 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nalinibhushan hindustudentsandtheirmissionaryteachersdebatingtherelevanceofrebirthinthecolonialindianacademy |